Archive for September 19th, 2006|Daily archive page

Filed in archive Research by george elvin on September 17, 2006If the thought of carbon nanotubes coursing through the bloodstream makes you nervous, you may want to leave the room now. Researchers at Brown University have injected a cocktail of carbon nanofibers and stem cells directly into the brains of rats. And as if that wasn’t enough, the rats had already suffered strokes. The result? The nanotube and stem cell cocktail healed neural tissue damaged by the stroke.

Here’s how it worked, as reported by Chemical & Engineering News:

Working in collaboration with researchers at Yonsei University, Seoul, Brown Professor Thomas J. Webster combined neural stem cells with either hydrophobic or hydrophilic carbon nanofibers and injected the cocktail into damaged regions of the brains of rats that had suffered a simulated stroke. After a few weeks, both types of nanofibers with stem cells promoted the growth of new neural tissue. On their own, neither nanofibers nor stem cells triggered neural tissue regeneration.

Webster attributes the mixture’s regenerative power to the fibers’ favorable interaction with laminin, a key protein for promoting stem cell differentiation into neurons. Webster also thinks the nanofibers’ ability to conduct electricity could help wire the neurons to one another.Link to Source

Tune in to the live webcast from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at Woodrow Wilson Center on Sept. 19, 2006 — either TODAY or TOMORROW for most readers — at 12:30 PM Eastern time (9:30 AM Pacific): “Public Awareness of Nanotechnology: What do Americans know? Who do they trust? Major Poll Findings to be Released“.

Always a scary topic — to ask what Americans know — but the Wilson Center nanotech folks have done a new study to find out:Link to Source

Tune in to the live webcast from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at Woodrow Wilson Center on Sept. 19, 2006 — either TODAY or TOMORROW for most readers — at 12:30 PM Eastern time (9:30 AM Pacific): “Public Awareness of Nanotechnology: What do Americans know? Who do they trust? Major Poll Findings to be Released“.

Always a scary topic — to ask what Americans know — but the Wilson Center nanotech folks have done a new study to find out:Link to Source